The German Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) has burdened private and industrial consumers with record electricity costs. Consequently, Energy and Economics Minister Gabriel pushed reform through cabinet on 8 April 2014 to curtail revenue guarantees to investors and to cut costs. The revenue guarantee reductions, most notably of one cent per kilowatt hour in the "Stauchungsmodell", bring investor returns down to 9.8 per cent, i.e. into the region of the financing costs faced by investing energy companies. If investors stay away from offshore wind power due to marginal economics, the scale benefits in investment and ongoing production costs of an estimated 30 per cent may jeopardise the original intended cost reduction.